Qatar Petroleum recently held the 7th bi-annual review meeting of its five-year “Qatarisation Plan” aimed at training more locals to manage and operate the company. The review was held under the auspices of Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, the Second Deputy Premier, Minister of Energy and Industry, and chairman of Qatar Petroleum. The meeting reviewed the...

SAN FRANCISCO (AFX) – Oil futures finished last week at their highest level in a year, as growing demand and uncertainties surrounding crude output fed market concerns over long-term supplies. “Venezuela is a hot spot, Iraq is yet to be proven as a reliable oil source, and OPEC has made sure inventories (remain) low,” by...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – About 40 pct of the bondholders of Sinopec Maoming Oil Refinery & Chemical Co Ltd (SZA 125302) may take legal action over the withdrawal of a planned A-share listing, the Shanghai Securities News reported, citing Yan Yiming, the bondholders’ lawyer. Sinopec Maoming, a unit of Hong Kong-listed China Petroleum & Chemical Corp...

MANILA (AFX-ASIA) – Local oil firms, led by Petron Corp, have reduced the prices of their liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) brands by 1.50 pesos per kilogram effective since the start of the month. (US$1=56 peso). However, Caltex Philippines Inc said that prices of finished fuel products rose further up to the end of February after...

LONDON (AFX) – A small US oil company that once held a license to produce oil from the Timor Sea filed a federal lawsuit yesterday accusing ConocoPhillips and the governments of Australia, Indonesia and East Timor of conspiring to illegally seize control of the lucrative oilfields, the Wall Street Journal reported. Citing the suit, filed...

Bangkok Aviation Fuel Service Plc (Bafs) forecasts that its sales volume will grow by 6% this year in line with the expected growth of the aviation and tourism sector, said managing director M.R. Supadis Diskul, according to a Bangkok Post report He said the company expected demand for aircraft fuelling services to rise by 6%...

The International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund Working Group held discussions on a possible revision of the Civil Liability Convention (CLC) and the Fund Convention (FC) in London last month. The event was attended by state and industry observer delegations, said Intertanko, the association of tanker owners. The talks concluded that a possible revision should continue,...

CARACAS (AFX-ASIA) – President Hugo Chavez told some 60,000 supporters he will block US access to Venezuela’s oil resources if Washington moves against his government. In a three-hour largely anti-American speech that singled out US President George W. Bush as an illegitimate leader, Mr Chavez said “if Mr Bush is possessed with the madness of...

KUALA LUMPUR (AFX-ASIA) – Tenaga Nasional Bhd, which is on a hunt for a new president/chief executive officer to replace Pian Sukro after he retires at the end of March, is considering Ahmad Jauhari Yahya for the position, The Star reported, citing sources. Mr Ahmad Jauhari, who is currently managing director of independent power producer...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Five of China’s major power firms have no plans for multi-billion US dollar overseas listings to finance huge capital expenditure requirements needed for generating capacity expansion, officials from the five big power firms told AFX-Asia. Beijing Datang Power Generation Co Ltd (HK 0991; ADR BJDHY) is not planning a New York listing,...

China’s CNOOC Limited (NYSE: CEO, SEHK: 883) said its new well Wei Zhou (WZ) 12-1N has come on stream and is producing more than 7,500 BOE per day. WZ 12-1N is located in the Beibu Gulf of the Western South China Sea, about 2 kilometers north of the existing WZ 12-1 and 31 kilometers to...

Australian upstream company Woodside Petroleum Ltd said it will sell its Bass Strait oil and gas interests to Sydney-based Anzon Energy Australia Ltd for A$65 million, adding the deal is conditional on government approval. (US$1=A$1.3). Under agreements with Anzon, Woodside, which has Shell as its largest shareholder, said in a statement it will sell its...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – The Hainan People’s Congress has appointed as provincial governor Wei Liucheng, 57, the current vice governor and a former head of the China National Offshore Oil Corp, the official Xinhua news agency reported. His elevation to governor follows a brief stint, beginning in October, in the number two provincial post. Before coming...

LONDON (AFX) – Soaring gasoline prices in the coming months could prove a major headache for former oilman President George Bush in the run up to the presidential elections. Mr Bush, who is trailing his likely Democratic Party opponent Senator John Kerry in the polls, may look to distance himself from any potential consumer backlash...

BOMBAY (AFX-ASIA) – The Indian government’s plan to sell a 10% stake in monopoly gas major Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) began today, lead managers for the offer said. “The issue has opened … it is too early to make a comment on the subscriptions,” said an official with one of the lead managers...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – Shanghai will invest nearly 20 billion yuan to upgrade and construct power grid systems this year, to alleviate electricity shortage in the municipality, the Liberation Daily reported, citing vice mayor Tang Dengjie. (US$1=8.27 yuan). He made the remarks at a Shanghai power working meeting last week. The investment will be the largest...

Shell has appointed Jeroen van der Veer Philip Watts as chairman of the committee of Managing Directors, replacing Philip Watt, who also stepped down as chairman of the Shell board. The company also said it appointed Lord Oxburgh as interim non-executive chairman of The Shell Transport and Trading Company, p.l.c. Malcolm Brinded has been appointed...

BP and Malaysia’s Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) said they have reached an agreement for LTAT to purchase BP’s 70% shareholding in the BP Malaysia Sdn Bhd fuels business which comprises 240 service stations, a modern fuel terminal and two joint- venture automated LPG bottling plants. LTAT will have 100% ownership of the business once...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it has approved a US$700,000 technical assistance (TA) grant for a study to locate natural gas reservoirs in Pakistan in the event of supply disruptions in the planned Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) gas pipeline project. The project is a 1,700-kilometer pipeline that will transport up to 30 billion cubic meters of...

KURDAMIR, Azerbaijan (AFX) – Workers building a section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) US$3 billion oil pipeline in Azerbaijan were back at work on today following strike action but said they still had a long list of grievances against their Western employers. About 200 workers on the pipeline, a project led by oil major BP PLC...

RIYADH (AFX) – Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi said Saudi Arabia will ensure adequate oil supplies to maintain market stability but did not say if the country wanted OPEC to review a decision to cut output next month if prices remain high. “It is extremely important that the international market, certainly the consuming countries, will always...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) is not certain whether Russia has decided to abandon plans to build a US$2.5 billion crude oil pipeline from Angarsk in East Siberia to Daqing in China’s northeast, the China Daily reported. The paper quoted an unidentified official from CNPC – the Chinese company backing the project...

Several areas in Yogyakarta city on the Indonesian island of Java have been experiencing a kerosene shortage for the past week, forcing local residents to queue for hours for kerosene across the city, according to the Jakarta Post. Due to the shortage, some kerosene suppliers raised their prices from Rp 1,100 to Rp 1,300 per...

BEIJING (AFX-ASIA) – China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) (SHA 600028; HK 0386; NYSE SNP) said BP has won a bid to become its partner in a 50-50 joint venture in Nanjing to produce 500,000 tons of acetic acid a year. Sinopec said BP, which already has an acetic acid joint venture with the Chinese...

Caltex Australia Limited said it achieved higher profits on a replacement cost basis in 2003 than the previous year. The full year profit after tax of A$199.7 million on a replacement cost of sales operating profit, was up 88% from A$106.1 million in 2002. (US$1=A$1.3). This result excludes the impact of international oil price movements...